Work
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
David Ricardo · Passages from the same work, in order.
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 301
"A man is rich or poor," says Adam Smith, "according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 302
It is true, that the man in possession of a scarce commodity is richer, if by means of it he can command more of the necessaries and enjoyments of…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 303
It may be said then of two countries possessing precisely the same quantity of all the necessaries and comforts of life, that they are equally rich,…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 304
Although Adam Smith has given the correct description of riches, which I have more than once noticed, he afterwards explains them differently, and…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 305
In the first case, a country would not only become rich, but the value of its riches would increase. It would become rich by parsimony; by…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 306
M. Say, in speaking of the excellences and imperfections of the great work of Adam Smith, imputes to him, as an error, that "he attributes to the…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 307
But these natural agents, though they add greatly to _value in use_, never add exchangeable value, of which M. Say is speaking, to a commodity: as…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 308
In the first passage we are told, that if every thing fell to half its value, from abundance, the society would be equally rich, because there…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 309
Whether these increased productions, and the consequent demand which they occasion, shall or shall not lower profits, depends solely on the rise of…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 310
There is only one case, and that will be temporary, in which the accumulation of capital with a low price of food may be attended with a fall of…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 311
When merchants engage their capitals in foreign trade, or in the carrying trade, it is always from choice, and never from necessity: it is because in…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 312
Adam Smith however, speaks of the carrying trade as one not of choice, but of necessity; as if the capital engaged in it would be inert if not so…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 313
"About ninety-six thousand hogsheads of tobacco are annually purchased with a part of the surplus produce of British industry. But the demand of…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 314
We manufacture commodities, and with them buy goods abroad, because we can obtain a greater quantity than we could make at home. Deprive us of this…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 315
Again. "Those, therefore, who have the command of more food than they themselves can consume, are always willing to exchange the surplus, or, what is…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 316
Adam Smith has justly observed, that it is extremely difficult to determine the rate of the profits of stock. "Profit is so fluctuating, that even in…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 317
A bounty on the exportation of corn tends to lower its price to the foreign consumer, but it has no permanent effect on its price in the home market.
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 318
Suppose that to afford the usual and general profits of stock, the price of corn should in England be 4_l._ per quarter; it could not then be…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 319
The ultimate effect then of a bounty on the exportation of corn, is not to raise or to lower the price in the home market, but to lower the price…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 320
If, however, I have succeeded in shewing that it is not the rise in the money wages of labour which raises the price of commodities, but that such…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 321
Adam Smith appears to have been fully aware, that the correctness of his argument entirely depended on the fact, whether the increase "of the money…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 322
"I answer," he says, "that this might be the case, if the effect of the bounty was to raise the real price of corn, or to enable the farmer, with…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 323
But whether wages were stationary after the rise in the price of corn, or advanced moderately, or enormously, is of no importance to this question,…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 324
A bounty, if it raises the price of corn, either raises it in comparison with the price of other commodities, or it does not. If the affirmative be…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 325
I cannot, however, but remark that, though Adam Smith's general doctrines correspond with this which I have just quoted, yet in one part of his…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 326
Adam Smith again considers that the effect of the bounty is to cause a partial degradation in the value of money. "That degradation," says he "in the…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 328
I have elsewhere attempted to shew that a partial degradation in the value of money, which shall affect both agricultural produce, and manufactured…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 329
If then, a bounty raises the price of corn in comparison with all other things, the farmer will be benefited, and more land will be cultivated; but…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 330
I have already attempted to shew, that the market price of corn, would, under an increased demand from the effects of a bounty, exceed its natural…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 331
A bounty on the exportation of manufactures will undoubtedly, as Dr. Smith contends, raise the market price of manufactures, but it will not raise…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 332
The sole effect of the bounty either on the exportation of manufactures, or of corn, is to divert a portion of capital to an employment, which it…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 333
Mr. Buchanan appears to have seen the fallacy of Dr. Smith's arguments respecting bounties, and on the last passage which I have quoted, very…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 334
It must, however, be conceded, that the tendency of a bounty on the exportation of any commodity is to lower in a small degree the value of money.…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 335
The manufacturers themselves, as consumers, had to pay an additional price for such commodities, and therefore it cannot be correctly said, that "the…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 336
It is the more necessary, to make this remark, as in the present day the authority of Adam Smith is quoted by country gentlemen for imposing…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 337
This then is a further proof, that no particular disadvantage arises from taxes on necessaries, on account of their raising wages and lowering the…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 338
A bounty on the production of corn then, would produce no real effect on the annual produce of the land and labour of the country, although it…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 339
In such case, it is evident that corn would be dear, and commodities cheap; labour would continue at the same price, if the labourer were as much…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 340
In considering this question, we have purposely left out of our consideration the effect of such a measure on foreign trade; we have rather been…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 341
"Such parts only of the produce of land," says Adam Smith, "can commonly be brought to market, of which the ordinary price is sufficient to replace…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 342
This passage would naturally lead the reader to conclude that its author could not have mistaken the nature of rent, and that he must have seen…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 343
But he had adopted the notion that "there were some parts of the produce of land for which the demand must always be such as to afford a greater…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 344
He says, that "land, in almost any situation, produces a greater quantity of food than what is sufficient to maintain all the labour necessary for…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 345
If the comprehensive mind of Adam Smith had been directed to this fact, he would not have maintained that rent forms one of the component parts of…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 346
"Whether a coal mine, for example," he says, "can afford any rent, depends partly upon its fertility, and partly upon its situation. A mine of any…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 347
Neither would any greater proportion of the gross produce be paid to the landlord, whether it consisted of potatoes, which would feed three hundred…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 348
If potatoes were to become the common food of the people, there would be a long interval during which the landlords would suffer an enormous…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 349
When from the progress of population, land of the same quality as before should be taken into cultivation, to produce the food required, and the same…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 350
Adam Smith never makes any distinction between a low value of money, and a high value of corn, and therefore infers, that the interest of the…
Direct reading
Investing · Western classics